Intakeofnitrate andnitrite andtheriskofgastric cancer:aprospective cohortstudy

questionnaire. Fordataanatysis, acase-cohort approach wasused, inwhich theperson-years atrisk wereestimated fromarandomly selected subcohort (1688 menand1812women). After 6.3years offollow-up, 282 microscopicalty confirmed incident casesofstomach cancer weredetected: 219menand63women.We didnotfind ahigher risk ofgastric cancer amongpeople withahigher nitrate intake fromfood[rate ratio (RR)highest/lowest quintile =0.80, 95%Cl0.47-1.37, trend-P =0.18], ahigher nitrate intake fromdrinking water(RRhighestAowest quintile =0.88, 95%Cl0.59-1.32, trend-P = 0.39) orahigher intake ofnitrite (RRhighestAowest quintile = 1.44, 95%Cl0.95-2.18, trend-P = 0.24). Rateratios forgastric cancer werealsocomputed foreachtertile of nitrate intake fromfoodswithin tertiles ofvitamin C intake andintake ofbeta-carotene, butnoconsistent pattem wasfound. Therefore, our study doesnotsupport apositive association between theintake ofnitrate ornitrite andgastric cancerrisk.